Exhaustion
by Mz. Ogie
Summary: A series of drabbles describing each character's ordeals.Latest: It's like any other Tuesday as I enter the house, like any other Tuesday as they don't say hi, don't ask me how my day went. Nothing. I wish they'd look me in the eye.
1. Danny 1

**_Exhaustion_**

It's kinda hard, at night, to see their faces as I try to fall asleep. To see their eyebrows knitted in disappointment, arms folded across their chests. The words that leak out of their frowns sometimes hurt me more than the bruises or scraches I've been getting lately. Things like _"What happened to you, Danny?"_ and the whispers and mutters between the silences echo through my mind as I close my eyes. _This happened to me,_ I'd whisper as I rest my head against my pillow, the surface cold and unwelcoming, not warm like it used to be. I'm almost waiting for a blue puff of icyness the shiver its way up my throat; but tonight must be one of the rare nights where it doesn't arrive, doesn't leave me sleepless until I have to get ready for school the next day. I know that everyone must see the dark bags that hang under my eyes during class… when I get home past curfew. That's where it all starts. The talks. The disappointment…

The guilt.

It follows me as I head into the shower, the wounds on my back a reminder of why this all had occurred. One event would lead down into another in sequence, all leading up into the moment I's set my very foot into the lab about two months ago. Why did I even bother?

I've been asking myself that question nowdays. Why exactly _did_ I bother, it wasn't like people cared or anything. Each day I'm forced to watch my parent's glares as they fire at me from below… and as I stare up a the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, I know that's the barrier that's keeping my final descision at bay. I wasn't going to tell them… yet. Some day I would, though.

…If I could. Every time I turn on my matress, burns crack deep beneath the suface of my skin. It's not easy to admit that the things I've been doing have left me exhausted, let alone wounded; sometimes badly. Lancer woke me up in the middle of English yesterday, muttering about rewards. I hardly noticed I'd dozed off. Got in trouble with him for it. My school career was over, there was no doubt about that… I could kiss my dream of working for NASA goobye forever. My grades were so far in the toilet that it was clogged, and nobody could call a plumber to fix it.

And to make things worse, we have the CATs next spring, which finally determine… well, my future. I try not to think about it too much. When I did, a sting of stress would course through my body, leaving me with horrendous images of the Nasty Burger in my mind. Lancer says that's where I'll end up if I don't try hard enough. That's all he'll blabber on about as I leave detention; which I have been getting alot these days. And I'll tell him I'm trying, and I really am...

It's left me with a lot of regrets, this new style of life, the decisions I'm making. Regrets of hoping, of dreaming, of even having the _slightest_ of notions in my thoughts that I'll make it. I regret these decisions of putting those I know and love in danger.

It gets me thinking of Mom and Dad, how glares will adorn their features as they face me in my glowing form, accompanying the whir of the weapons in their arms. It's kinda weird, how the people who care for me will loathe me in my counterparting form, and those who do not adore me. It's like flipping everything around. At the end of the day I'll try to laugh about it, shrug it off as Sam or Tuck will pry me with endless questions. It doesn't work.

And through all this questioning, regret, and guilt, I'm left; filled with exhaustion as I succumb to dreams of endless stars before I'll wake up to the new world.

* * *

**Uh... yeah. I tried a little bit of freewriting/drabbling and this is what came out. Blaarg. Tell me watcha think.**

**-Juni**


	2. Sam 1

**Tried to keep Sam in character. Let me know if I suceeded. **

**-Juni**

**

* * *

**

Exhaustion

Part 2- Sam

I wish that my boots weren't so loud.

See, they always make loud clanks against the steps on nights Danny can't drop me off in my room, causing either my parents or my grandma to notice me at the late hour. Tonight was one of those nights. It's quite annoying, really, when your mother yells at you for thirty minutes straight, your father waking up and joining her afterward. Grandma was the one to save me tonight, to shun them away so I could sink into the dark abyss of my covers.

As I'm laying here, I think about what Mom said. She thinks I'm on the way to 'teen troublehood', or better yet; already on the path to it. I wish she could just stop. Ha. If she only knew the half of it. It wasn't like she'd _understand_ if she ever listened to what I had to say about my life, about how I'm getting the slightest bit more irritable 'cause I'm not getting enough sleep some nights. I know they can all tell. My mother, my father, grandmother… even my friends notice the changes going on. Especially Danny. A guilty look'll cross his face each time he sees notice the _tiniest _bruise or scratch I might get from small excursions in the night. Can't he see that he's going through so much more? I guess not.

It's been a month since the dance, and ever since that night I've been having… mixed feelings about my best friend, and I'm still not sure what they mean. All of those emotions are pretty much washed down the river when _Paulina_ enters the room. I'm failing to see the attraction he has towards her, but then again, I have to remind myself that he's a thick-headed fourteen-year-old boy. Anger fills my mind at the thought of this, and I bet that if I had that amulet on, I'd be sprouting scales on my skin.

Valerie would make me do that, too. I can't believe that she's trying to be all buddy-buddy with us now that she's lost all of her Daddy's money. What makes me even more dumbfounded is that Danny and Tucker are buying into it. Somebody could say I'm pretty much ticked off at her after all these days and years of calling me names, spilling food on me, and now the latest: hunting Danny. They'd be right, of course.

Even if she doesn't know it's him, what gives her the reason to shoot at my best friend? I'll watch him come to school with bruises, cuts, and bleeding wounds every other day, mostly from fights with her as he tries to fight off another ghost, like Skulker. There are the days when I'll try to ask him about it, ask him if he's okay, because I know that he's not. I'm getting tired of him not answering, of him giving me the shrug as we walk to class, books in his hands. Last Monday he came here in the middle of the night, badly beaten. He gave me the shrug for that, too. He knows that I'm worried for him, for his health; his _sanity_. It makes me lose some of mine.

My head sinks down into the pillow with that thought, the exhaustion taking me over. I don't want to wake up from my dreams…

I don't want my mom to open the curtain.

* * *

**Click that button and stick it to me. You know you want to...**

**P.S. :**

**thank you to all of my reveivers and fav-ers. You are the fuel that keeps me running!**


	3. Tucker 1

**Heeeeeeeere's Tucker! (and his massive inferior complex)**

* * *

**Exhaustion**

_Part Three- Tucker_

I think they might know.

Man, it's really hard to act calm when your folks attack you with questions, most of them that you can't answer for the sake of your well-being. Right then is when I'll get all nervous, consider for one second that maybe I should just tell them about what's been going on. But I'd never do that to Danny, he's my best friend... and I can't help but feel a little guilty over what I did to him two weeks ago. Seriously. Man, I can't believe that I'd almost gone overboard.

The strange thing is I actually _enjoyed_ it. The strength, the exhilaration... the.... the _power _that I'd experienced after making that wish_._ It makes me feel weird, now that I think about it as I'm sitting on my bed after the long day has ended. It kinda gives me the chance to think about everything, like what I'm doing now. Aside from the entries on the PDA in my hand, (which I still haven't paid the payments on) this is the only way to do that.

There are some days when I feel like nobody cares, and I´ll never admit it to anyone, you hear me? Nobody.

A nobody's what I am. Somebody that's a nobody. A person that when you walk by, you don't notice.

Is it weird to say that I wanna be a somebody? A _somebody_ somebody? It might be... but there are times where I'll think it's not.

... Times when I'll see my best friend get all the action. There are downsides to it of course, like the fact that he has to deal with his parents, Jazz, school...

Speaking of school, did I mention that I'm failing it? It's a damn good thing that I hacked into the school's computer system and changed my grades, thing only problem is that I'd be toast, burned under Mom and Dad's glares if they ever found out... That wouldn't be good.

I sink back into my pillow after putting my pajamas, staring at the faint glow of my computer's power button. I never turn that thing off.

God, it's been a late night. Not that I don't mind…

…Man, Val looks hot in that hunter suit. I don't care what Danny says about her grudge… The way she _looks _in that thing… dang. Sexy, but deadly. Trust me, I'm not kidding you on that one. Danny came into class with a massive bruise on his shoulder because of her, but it might have been Sam's fault, too.

I know she likes him, she always has since the moment we all met in second grade. There's no way she'll ever tell him that though. I've almost let her secret slip several times… Danny's so clueless. I don't blame him though, He'll grow outta it.

…Eventually.

My eyes slowly close after I put my glasses on the nightstand, sighing.

I'm not that exhausted, to tell you the truth... Maybe just a little tired of my life...

* * *

**Sorry that it's so short. I don't really feel as if I kept this in character. **

**Also, a new Puzzle Pieces chapter will be up by the 25th.**

**Review.**

**-Juni**


	4. Danny 2

"Hey mom, hey dad." It's like any other Tuesday as I enter the house, like any other Tuesday as they don't say hi, don't ask me how my day went. Nothing.

…At least not to my face. It's been like this for weeks, and heck, I should be used to it now; but I'm not. Their mumbled replies leave me silent as I walk up to my room and slam my backpack against the floor. It's a good thing Jazz is away at college, I guess, because then she'd bring her psychobabble upon all of us, and that's not what we need right now. Not what they need. Not what I need.

I'd known it was going to take some time to adjust, that things couldn't be all hunky-dory if I gave them some space after hurling it all at them. It was the least I could do.

Months have passed by since the day that I did. I remember their faces, mom's violet eyes, red lipstick, and wide smile… Dad's happy gaze and goofy grin as we hugged each other. They were just too happy to let their shock settle in.

It makes me wonder what it would it be like to see their faces now. Their eyes wouldn't be filled with joy, mouths set in grins… I don't know what they'd look like.

It's pretty sad now that I think about it. Gets me thinking about something else, somehting I haven't thought about in a long time due to its absence.

Maybe Vlad was right. All those times way back when he first met me, he said that my folks would accept me, but they wouln't be able to_ understand_. He's right. I know it now, of course... now that I think about it more as another epiphany comes to mind.

_I'm alone. _

It's not that hard to see of course, Vlad was the only other one out there besides Dani... and who knows where that kid is now. She's always wanting to be on her own, wanting nobody's help. Sometimes I think she's more Jazz's clone than she is mi--

I'm not in the mood for the Box Ghost of all people right now. For once, I don't really care about anything as my Ghost Sense goes off. _Just watch him go Danny, it'll be fine..._

_No it won't, _I snap back at my conscience. _it never is._

I'm exhausted, freakin' sick of this as I fly out my window.

* * *

**Well that was short... (and sucky since I rushed it. Big time. I have to get ready for school.). ****I'm back and updating, though I think I might delete this chappie later since I wanna do it in cannon order. I got bored and posted this up. Whatever. Meh.**

**Review and tell me your thoughts!**

**-Juni (and yes, this does take place after Phantom Planet... because I'm not a sap and don't believe that Danny's parents will be all happy and shit after the aftermath.)**


End file.
